Interview for Radio Sheffield • Friday, February 18, 1972

Interview

This interview remains the property of the respective copyright owner, and no implication of ownership by us is intended or should be inferred. Any copyright owner who wants something removed should contact us and we will do so immediately.

Paul McCartney: We just took off from London and we didn’t want to go through sort of a whole established agent thing and managers. So we just took off in a van, just like a gang of people going off on a touring holiday kind of thing. And the first sign we noticed was Nottingham, so we turned off there and went to the university. We said: ‘Can we play here?’ ‘Yeah, great!” and they got us a hall and we played there and we’ve been doing it ever since. Just turn up in the afternoon. ‘Have you got a hall?’ They hustled around and they’ll get us a hall for that night and then we play.

Is this how you like it?

Paul McCartney: l like it like that, because there is no pressure on the group then, you see. In my position, which is not having played for a long time… Before this tour, I felt a bit rusty or I felt that I might be rusty. So to just cover myself and the group, we just play things that are sort of unannounced, so there’ll be no lines of pressmen sitting there saying ‘Oh he is not as good’ or ‘Bloody hell, that was terrible’ or ‘They played a wrong note’. The kind of people we’re playing to largely don’t notice, they come for a dance or just to have a good time.

What are you travelling with?

Paul McCartney: We have got a great big lorry with all the equipment in it, a three-tonner, and we’re in a transit van with the dogs and the kids.

Who does the driving?

Paul McCartney: We do. I do a bit, but mainly Henry and Denny.

How do you manage travelling as a family?

Linda McCartney: We’re used to it actually. We travel around a lot with the kids and dogs. We haven’t been doing gigs before. We have a Land Rover, so we’re used to it. And the kids are great and they help a lot.

Paul McCartney: We took off last year for the Shetlands. Linda suddenly decided she liked the Shetland sweaters and we wanted a little holiday. So we took off in the Land Rover and we piled everything in the back, the kids with us in the front, dogs in the back too, potty on top of everything and off we went, you see. We just kept driving, on speck and that. We had a great time. I like doing things